


Probation Diary

by nyaha



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Diary/Journal, Extensive Diary Reading, Multi, Spoilers, Time Loop, all ships are mentioned in passing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 14:35:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13572606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nyaha/pseuds/nyaha
Summary: Akira Kurusu, while transforming the Leblanc attic into something vaguely resembling a livable bedroom, discovers a box filled with mementos from people he'd never met and journals he didn't remember writing in, filled page to page with handwriting just like his. It's going to be a long damn night for Akira Kurusu.





	Probation Diary

It was late at night on a rainy April evening, and Akira Kurusu had finally gotten around to unpacking more of his belongings.

It had already been a painstaking process packing all his crap up back home, but somehow _un_ packing it in his new cramped and dusty attic home was even worse. Everything was a painful reminder of the life he’d left behind: the books he’d crammed on his shelf made him think of days when he didn’t have to worry so damn much; the stuffed cat he’d brought for comfort only brought ghosts of his considerably normal past; the casual clothes tucked away in his desk drawer just reminded him of the night he’d lost everything. Cleaning was normally a calming procedure to him, but his freshly mopped floor and newly dusted windowsill did him no favors, and he felt nothing but bitter, bitter, bitter. He was bitter about being on probation for a crime he didn’t commit, bitter about that woman who’d been too scared to tell the truth and that man who clearly didn’t care about anyone but himself, bitter about his _moronic_ sense of justice that had told him he had to “save” this woman being harassed on the street…if he were being honest, he was mostly just bitter about his new legal guardian giving him an attic to live in instead of an actual room in his big-ass house, but he had too much on his mind to be straightforward with himself.

There was also the issue of him and his new school’s resident delinquent getting lost in an alternate dimension on the way to school, but he and Sakamoto would deal with that in the morning.

He called upon the power vested within him to prevent himself from burning the shirt he’d worn that dreadful night. Instead, he stuffed it in his storage box with the rest of the garbage that he really shouldn’t have packed (when would he need a swimsuit in the middle of Tokyo, anyway? He didn’t even like to swim very much) and shoved it into his storage shelf, along with the other boxes filled with garbage that his new caretaker really shouldn’t have bought. Maybe he could pretend his swim trunks and weird cosplay outfits and other paraphernalia were his emotions, so that he could just box them up and put them away for a later date that never came, like he always did.

He stood back up and surveyed his handiwork. The room certainly felt more _livable,_ what with its unlittered floor and noticeable absence of dead bugs, but his bitterness still clawed at his insides, tearing him apart and killing him slowly yet surely—or at the very least, guaranteeing he wouldn’t be falling asleep anytime soon. He’d forgotten a final moving box on his new bed (actually just a mattress, but at least his temporary legal guardian had been kind enough to give him sheets), so he wasn’t even done yet anyway. What a pain.

Upon opening the box, he found that he had no idea where its contents had come from.

These assorted items certainly didn’t belong to _him._ He removed them from the box one by one: a shiny new sports watch he’d never bought, a fashion magazine with _that girl_ from school modeling on the front, a list of recipes for coffee and curry dishes he’d never made, a documentary outline about some sentai group he didn’t recognize (the “Phantom Thieves?” Weird name), an old calculator he had no reason for using, a “promise list” signed by a name he didn’t recognize, an entire _painting,_ a _fertilizer_ _sample_?His eyes also caught a stack of three identical diaries tucked away in the denizens of the box—and another “probation diary” that looked just like his, like the one Sojiro Sakura had given him two days ago.

He cracked open one of the diaries. Every entry was signed with his name.

 

_3/19_

 

_It seems we’ve done it again, kids. Another successful world-saving, even though it feels kind of futile to me. I had a lot of fun fighting, though—if only that part had lasted longer. I actually got out of juvie earlier than the probation diary said I would, though, so that’s a plus._

_Goro Akechi sounded a lot different in those entries than he did in real life, too. I mean…what an asshole! Everyone else was sad, but I was kinda glad when he died. At least he wouldn’t be loitering around the café anymore. Me and Makoto could have some quality alone time for once…_

_Everything else was the same. I dated Makoto, duh. Hope whoever replaces me has fun on the job._

 

_Akira Kurusu_

 

* * *

 

_3/19_

 

_Agh! I don’t want to go home!!! The government sucks, I like my friends._

_Anyway. Everything went exactly the same as the diary predicted here, it was almost kind of eerie. I guess that stuff really is prophetic. Who wrote it anyway? Lavenza? Real Igor? The first Akira? That’s some Alice in Wonderland shit right there. Also, I didn’t hook up with anyone! It was okay because Ryuji was a bro and hung out with me on couples’ holidays. We totally didn’t kiss or anything. Not at all! Shut up! I’m not gay. Whatever._

_Speaking of, do I get to live the rest of my life while another Akira starts his cycle, or do I have to die? I already almost died three times, having to actually die would suck! Bring back Akechi to shoot me in the head or something, his gun was cool. Apparently that cylinder looking thing he put on it is a silencer? “Good for murdering,” he told me. Weirdo! Good luck dealing with him, Next Akira._

 

_Akira Kurusu_

 

* * *

 

 

_12/03_

 

_I know it’s dangerous, but I saved Goro Akechi’s life today. I killed his double and I told him everything. I know he tried to kill me earlier and all, but I really think he’s genuinely sweet, and I care about him. Even if it means Yaldabaoth is going to kill me for disobeying fate, I don’t really care, I have a death wish anyway. If I survive, I’m going to ask Goro out. If not I’m going to be dead. Oops!_

_I’ll write again if I live._

 

_Akira Kurusu_

* * *

 

 

_11/23_

 

_Poor dude didn’t live. Aww._

_I guess I don’t really care. I’m kind of sick of this Phantom Thieving thing, it’s not very fun, all my teammates are super annoying. I’m just gonna let Goro kill me tomorrow and be done with it, that’ll probably make him happy. Also I’m gonna water my houseplant before I go. Are you guys taking care of him? He’s really important, assholes. Save the trees and whatnot. Also he’s cute._

_See you guys in the afterlife._

 

_Akira Kurusu_

 

* * *

 

_3/19_

 

_I don’t like spitting on the graves of the dead, but I hope that defeatist attitude does not continue into our future generations of Akira. (That sounds so weird.)_

_Uh, my timeline was pretty different, I guess. Yuuki Mishima has a Persona too. Titania, the fairy queen from_ A Midsummer Night’s Dream. _Convenient for me, since I’m dating him. He mostly acts as support, but he’s had a lot of fun with us. He said he feels like he belongs, and that makes me inconceivably happy. I hope we can make long-distance work…or maybe I’ll be dead soon, I don’t know. I don’t really want to die, but I guess I don’t have a choice in the matter._

_I hope we can end this cycle soon._

 

_Akira Kurusu_

 

* * *

 

_12/24_

 

_This world isn’t worth saving. I’ll take Yaldabaoth’s offer, and I’ll reform it as I please. I’ll be the famous Phantom Thief. That sounds fucking awesome._

_Sorry guys._

 

_Akira Kurusu_

 

* * *

 

_3/19_

 

_Jesus_ Christ, _some of you guys are real idiots. Just letting yourself die like that? Fighting on is what we do! Jeez._

_Things didn’t go quite as predicted either. I never met “Makoto Niijima;” instead I met Hifumi Togo, the shogi player from the church, and she got this cool willowy Persona that I can’t really remember the name of, but it’s okay, we kicked Kaneshiro’s ass nonetheless. I dated Ann, because she’s super cute and I love her. Are we packing away Valentine’s chocolates? Sorry, but I already ate mine. It was really good. Thank you Ann. (I hope she liked the White Day chocolates I gave her…)_

_By the way, does Arsene ever show up before you guys to give you life advice? He did that for me. Constantly. In public. Thanks Arsene._

 

_Akira Kurusu_

 

* * *

 

_3/19_

 

_EVERYTHING WENT THE SAME_

_I DATED YUSUKE ‘CAUSE I’M GAY AS HELL_

_SORRY I BROKE YOUR ROBOT, BEST WISHES IN THE AFTERLIFE_

 

_AKIRA KURUSU_

 

* * *

 

_11/23_

 

_Tomorrow night I’m going to seduce Goro Akechi. Here’s how I’m going to—_

 

Akira closed the diary. He tossed it back into the box, swiped the box off his bed, and flopped down face-first onto his faintly detergent-smelling mattress. (Goro Akechi, Makoto Niijima, Yuuki Mishima, Hifumi Togo, Ann, Yusuke, Lavenza, Yaldabaoth…he didn’t recognize any of those names. And those “Phantom Thieves” again. It made his head spin a little bit.)

He sighed. He’d deal with that in the morning.


End file.
